blameless

Etymology

It is formed from English blame + -less.^[2][3][4][5] The noun blame is from Old French blasme (“blame, reproach”),^[2][4] from blasmer (“to rebuke”), from Vulgar Latin *blastemō, from Late Latin blasphēmō (“to revile, blaspheme”),^[4][3] from Ancient Greek βλασφημέω (blasphēméō, “to speak ill of”).^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Free from reproach: 1377, in Langland's Piers Plowman: "Ac neuer neyther is blamelees þe bisshop ne þe chapleyne".^[2][6] Etymonline likewise has the late 14th century,^[4] and Dictionary.com 1350–1400.^[5] Trevisa and Gower both have the word before 1393.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The OED separates an earlier sense, "free from censure, uncensured", which it records from 1377 to 1526, from "giving no cause for blame", which it records from 1535, in Coverdale's Bible (Titus 1:6).^[2] The Middle English Dictionary gives a single sense for this period, "irreproachable, guiltless, flawless".^[6] The construction with of appears in the King James Bible of 1611: "We will be blameless of this thine oath".^[2][7] The sense "not imputing blame" is recorded only in Spenser, in 1595.^[2] Johnson (1755) defined it as guiltless, innocent, and exempt from censure.^[7] The related blameful is also recorded from the late 14th century, but has seldom been used.^[4]

Timeline

• 1377 – free from charge or reproof (obsolete by 1526).^[2]
• 1535 – giving no cause for blame, faultless.^[2]
• 1595 – not imputing blame (obsolete).^[2]
• 1611 – with of, free of responsibility for something.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Free from blame or fault; innocent or irreproachable: Their neighbour led a quiet and blameless existence.^[3][8][9][2]
2. (with of) Not responsible for something: blameless of the error.^[2][7]

Word family

• blamelessly
• blamelessness

Related words

• blame
• blaspheme
• blameworthy

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
7. ^ a b c Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins